Dan Hawkins

It has happened 😔 I'm one of the many Sumo peeps affected by layoffs. I had a fantastic time at Sumo Digital Ltd. I met incredible people that will be lifelong friends, I represented my company at many international events, and, super recently, I've been nominated for Diversity Star at the Develop:Brighton Star Awards. I also got to build teams for the really cool titles below: 🗃️ A Little to the Left 🪓 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 🏎️ Stampede: Racing Royale 🛢️ Still Wakes The Deep But, now, it's time to say goodbye 👋🏼 So, to all the incredible people I had the honor of hiring & working with, I just want to thank you for enriching my experience 💖. I can't wait to play all the future games you'll make. --- 🚨 I am now on the lookout for a new team I can complement with my skillset! 🚨 I have 5+ years of experience recruiting for all main core development teams, as well as senior leadership and operational roles, via many different ATS & CRMs. Exclusively in the Game Development Industry. However, THAT'S NOT ALL! I also have extensive experience 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐮𝐩𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 & 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠: ✨DEIB programs, ✨Reports and analysis, ✨Career support initiatives, ✨Early career processes, and ✨Recruiting & hiring training materials. ➡️ So if you are looking for a recruiter, a #DEIB specialist or a generalist who can support multiple areas & teams, make sure to message! ➡️ If you aren't hiring but want to help, leave a comment below or repost to increase my reach! --- 📣 Follow #RethinkRecruitment and ring the 🔔 to stay updated! ⏩ https://entrylevel.games/ 🌟 Opinions are very much my own™️ #Layoffs #Redundancies #JobHunting #GameDev

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Lots of interesting info in this survey for people in the industry at every level. How does your pay compare? Which areas are struggling/thriving? Do take a look, there's some useful insights in there :)

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The Sumo Group closures really have broken me a bit, and I need to rant about the state of things. I'm sorry if it seems I'm glossing over all the closures before this one, but so many ex-students went there, so many ex-colleagues passed through there, and so my timeline is just filled with people looking for work. We keep talking and talking about the economic factors involved, Brexit and Covid and this and that ... the thing I can't stop thinking of is that in my life I've watched the world slowly pitch into a place of despondent capitalism. Art has become more about making stars and fame than helping people escape and reflect. A drive for "truth" and objectivity has resulted, paradoxically, in people putting more stock in spreadsheets and numbers than people. I can't help but feel that if you're bleating about finance and trade deals and business decisions, you're ignoring the fact that general support for artistic and creative endeavours has declined sharply and is still declining, even in the so-called "art world". Games are ultimately always going to be the first to fall in a culture war against creativity, because games are ultimately and profoundly pointless things. That's the whole majesty of the medium: they make us feel profound feelings, they help us explore our existence by being separate from reality, but to do so they MUST bring us nothing tangible in return. The truth is that our industry will probably bounce back to some degree, but it's not any financial structures or cost systems that will save game development as a medium and an art form - it's a cultural shift to recognise the importance of expressive and explorative subjective art in the world today, and the need to support creative endeavours without the pressure of financial recompense.

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The time has come. The end of September means we are moments away from transforming into blanket burritos. Laying there on the couch with 🍵 and a book or controller🎮 But it also means at 8Bit - Games Industry Recruitment we're once again running our Gamedev salary survey Link here: https://lnkd.in/dTppmtWz Why it makes sense for you to fill it: => You'll feel good about yourself. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 $1 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐮𝐞𝐬 => You are helping your future self. No more dreading the infamous "What's your salary expectations?" 𝐘𝐨𝐮'𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐠𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐲 => It's 100% anonymous, it literally takes 5 minutes to go through and it will be available for FREE So, on your next coffee break just go for it: https://lnkd.in/dTppmtWz

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Games Jobs Workbook v14.2 Is Here (PLEASE HELP REPOST) https://lnkd.in/d6x5NHMZ - Resource 8 From v14.0 to v14.2 (today, 4/19), we have achieved - 3,616 games employers (+1,488) - 1,078 games employers who are actively hiring (+197) - 13,783 games jobs (+792) Thanks, as always, to my dear friend Eva Tucker for feeding me this list of new adds, to which I have added URLs and locations where they were missing, eliminated companies that are defunct or without sites, and added the full functional level of detail in the games jobs workbook. All these new companies are now also 99% semi-automated through my standard approach. Anything for gamers, Amir

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A small letter to Ubisoft. Ubi has said "𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘌𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘦, 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘪𝘴 𝘭𝘢𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘶𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯, 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘳-𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘤𝘩, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴 𝘢 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘰𝘥𝘦𝘭 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴." Come on UBI, we all want you to win, stop being such a silly goose. These two things are at odds with each other and this is why they are struggling, whilst you can marry up a "player-centric approach" whilst providing value to your shareholders, it's the fact these things even exist on an even playing field that they are struggling. Everytime, at least I can think of, that the shareholders pockets are considered as important as the game itself, the game does not do well, or at the very least it does poorly and has to be saved later by ripping all of that stuff that was put in to "make shareholders happy" out of it. Games make significantly more money when people actually want to play them, it's not complicated. So Ubi, as the creator of some of my favorite games, as the place I dreamed to work at as a kid, as a megalith of our industry, please go back to basics. go back and look at what truly made far cry 2 amazing, what made half the planet fall in love with roof jumping assassins and what ultimately led to your gargantuan success, because it's not pleasing shareholders, it's simply making games we all want to play. I know it's nowhere near this simple but for the love of god, we could all be playing the best pirate game ever made if you had focused more on the fun and less on the 1. All the best, your once biggest fan. P.S bin off live service outside of siege, you're clearly not cut out for it.

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Awful news last week with Thunderful Group announcing a second round of layoffs (the previous one was earlier this year) as it is looking to “increase its focus on third-party publishing and reduce the production of internally developed projects”, therefore resulting in significant redundancies within the company’s own development teams, affecting Thunderful Games, Thunderful Malmö, The Station, Thunderful Skövde and JUMPSHIP. Additionally, roles within administration and management will also be affected. To those impacted please check out the following resources: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 10 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/eGE2vzUt You can find over 5,900 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #thunderfulgames #thestation #jumpship #layoffs

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Another games jobs cut situation today at CI Games as reported by Game Developer's Christopher Kerr and confirmed by the company, saying "This restructure affects approximately 30 roles across production" https://lnkd.in/eHmMFztw Here's where this puts us. I will start exposing these statistics regularly as a reminder of the human cost of these decisions: 100+ games layoffs in 2024 One games layoff situation on average every 1.3 days in 2024 (apologies for getting this inverted in the picture) Over 10,000 games layoffs in 2024 YTD Within 500 cuts of hitting 2023's games layoff number...in May If you were in fact affected by these cuts, I have no words to express my feelings. However, our community has three resource "homes" built to help you: HOME 1 - 🔗 AMIRSATVAT.COM: Our hub offering 15 resources to help you find work, including a fully updated design. - 🔗 Games Org Support Posts: Find a template at AMIRSATVAT.COM (Category 4, Resource 10). If you can provide information from your team (with their consent), I’ll help edit and disseminate the final product, reaching 100,000+ people. These posts are highly effective in increasing visibility and we have done 96 of them. HOME 2 - 🔗 Please visit discord.gg/amirsatvat to join our Discord, a live extension of our community resources. With over 2,700 members, we are in an open-join phase. HOME 3 - 🔗 LinkedIn: Our community here includes over 86,000 members, with 1-3 daily posts offering support and career assistance in the games industry. To our broader community, your involvement makes a difference. Here’s how you can help: - Spread the word: Reshares and comments on this post amplify the visibility of these resources. - Offer support: Utilize the 13 ways listed on AMIRSATVAT.COM under "How You Can Help" to assist, or simply lend an ear or advice on our Discord server. - Join our movement: Volunteer with us at AMIRSATVAT.COM to support our colleagues in the games industry. Our network has facilitated over 1,800 jobs and 33,000 coaching conversations to date and has been visited by over 3,000,000 gamers lifetime. We're committed to providing daily encouragement and support during these challenging times. We will never stop fighting for you!

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A simple observation about voice production for games: It pays to embrace sourcing diverse talent early on. You’ll be much better prepared than if you rely on the same talent pools every time. Casting characters is sourcing diverse talent. Building believable worlds is sourcing diverse talent. Creating unique game experiences is sourcing diverse talent. When you’ve worked through finding fresh, diverse voices and know that challenge well? The process of building a truly immersive world becomes a lot easier.

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724 New Roles from 514 Companies - New Games Jobs! 1,774 Total Roles Added Since 10/1/24! https://lnkd.in/d6x5NHMZ Looking for new opportunities in games? Check out Resource #11 - the most robust new games roles resource out there! Combining it with Resource #10 (Games Jobs Workbook - our long-form flagship resource updated every 1-2 months) offers the most comprehensive view of the games job market worldwide. I run a 9-step process to keep everything clean and automated - wiping roles every 2 weeks to ensure fresh, accurate data. When the role was posted How it categorizes across our 20 standard community functional groups Dedupe for the same roles in multiple locations Clean out miscategorized roles Tell you where the role is Tell you if it's remote or not - for real Tell you if it is a reposted role or not with conditional formatting - for real Give you a direct link to apply Explore more and dive into your next big opportunity! Always free and without ulterior motives, for gamers!

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You wanna know what really Grinds My Gears? Candidates being burned by Recruiters. It is the only logical explanation for the following I've experienced... Right? Because it couldn't possibly be me?!? 🙄👀😝 Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight????? 🤣😂😅 Over the past few months, I have seen profiles with the "Open to Work / Open to Network" tag active & then I reach out to them about a role, only for them to never reply back to me... & then I see a post from them looking for work / highlighting their profile for potential opportunities... Since it couldn't possibly be me, is it: ⚙ Maybe they had so many invites / job inquiry messages, they missed mine? ⚙ They're just making a go of it directly by only replying to the CEO of a Studio they're interested in? By pass the Recruiter altogether, got it! ⚙ They're really not looking & have found a great way to get back at Recruiters due to a prior bad experience... maybe?? ⚙ They're really just AI & not human profiles... could be???? The scenario is real & the wonders on my end are more kidding... but if you're looking for a role & have the banners up, why are you not actively networking or replying back when you get a message about a job? If it's really me, just say so & I'll understand... but when you put out a separate message asking for support & have ignored a reach out about an opportunity... I'm not trying to irk anyone with this either, it's just what I've seen going on in the market & I don't understand it. Keep fighting the good fight! #'s for the #'s #TheMattBarney #VideoGames #VideoGameJobs #GameDev #GameDevJobs #GearGrinder #OneLove

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Horrible news today with Rocksteady Studios Ltd being hit with a round of layoffs. According to Eurogamer, a number of employees have been laid off over the past month, with its QA department more than halved (from 33 staff to 15). Additionally, non-QA job were also affected. What is even more horrible is that the report also cites one employee who mentioned on social media that they had been informed they were being made redundant despite being in the middle of paternity leave. 😞 According to the source, the job losses are directly linked to the release of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with its poor sales specifically mentioned as a reason for what it describes as “restructuring”. Those of you who are affected by this, please make use of my resources below: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/e2qSeKk6 You can find over 5,600 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #rocksteady #layoffs (source: https://lnkd.in/e3bXuFhy)

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Where to Find Your Next Hire: 395 Ready-to-Go Candidates Our refreshed candidate pool (we reset every 6 months and did so 2 weeks ago) includes 395 professionals across key job categories, representing 3,882 years of total work experience and 2,159 years of games industry experience. That’s an average of 9.8 years of total experience and 5.5 years in games per person - a goldmine of talent for those hiring in games and beyond. Here’s how many distinct professionals are in each category: Administration, Facilities, and Office Management - 6 Art, Tech Art, Animation, Cinematics & Video - 95 Audio - 6 Business Development, Corporate Development, Sales, Strategy, Partnerships, Licensing - 7 Business Intelligence, Data, Analytics - 2 Communications, PR, Policy - 2 Customer & Community Management & Support - 15 Engineering, Programming, Tech Design, Tech Writing - 66 Game or Product Design - 58 HR, Talent, Recruiting, Enablement & Sustainability - 9 IT, Tech, Security, Compliance - 5 Localization / Translation - 2 Marketing, Brand, Advertising, UA & eSports, Influencer/Social Management - 23 Production, Project Management, Business & Communications Ops, Performance - 46 QA - 22 User and Player Interface, Experience & Research - 12 Writing & Narrative - 19 Hiring Managers and Recruiters - want the full list? Browse candidates across 14 dimensions here: https://lnkd.in/ehuD2qFe. For Job Seekers, we’ve just started our 6-month reset two weeks ago - these numbers will grow to 8,000-10,000 candidates over this period. Placement rates from these lists are consistently high. If you’re a job seeker, please sign-up again here! https://lnkd.in/ezrQwrGK Let’s help you find the right hires with the answers to the test!

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🚨 Can Nostalgia create a path back to games industry growth? 🚨 💡 ⤵ I went to watch Inside Out 2 with my daughter on Saturday (well worth a watch!) and one of the new emotions was Nostalgia. Whilst only playing a minor role for 13 year old Riley in the film, it is an emotion increasingly being felt by publishers and gamers. Whether it be big scale returns of old PC classics or emulator apps cropping up on mobile, it is clear that many players are looking for a Nostalgia hit! But Why? Well for me retro gaming scratches a number of intrinsic needs; 1. Familiarity - An old pair of slippers, moulded to you, is just more comfortable than a shiny pair of Air 1s. 2. Mastery - No one likes being a noob. If players can skip learning and get straight to the fun, they will. 3. Community - Who doesn't love getting the old gang back together... Reminiscing. Laughing. Smiling. From a publisher perspective it makes a lot of sense too. Large amounts of the initial development costs have been sunk already, you have a clear target audience to go after and you have the opportunity to turn back the clock and learn from last time. Nostalgia doesn't have to stunt innovation. In Old School RuneScape we have worked with our community to create entirely new quests, game modes and map expansions whilst staying true to the retro vibe players are looking for. And there are more games coming.... I saw today a 2005 server save of Habbo Hotel is being dusted off and relaunched tomorrow with a community-led voting approach.... sounds familiar 🤔 Good luck Sulake. Hope the launch goes well. So we have Old School RuneScape and now Old School Habbo... Come on Lance Priebe lets get the band back together with some Old School Club Penguin! 🐧 🐧 🐧 What other retro games do we need next? #nostalgia #gaming #mmo #gamesindustry #insight

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"Thanks for your application, but you're overqualified" What the hell does that even mean? It was hard to believe at first, but nowadays I am regularly speaking with people who have 15-20 years of industry experience and have a hard time landing their next job. I recently had a chat with a fantastic individual who received a couple of "Sorry mate, we would have no idea what to do with you and where to put your skills". So, what the hell does "overqualified" mean? 1) The manager is afraid you're going to get bored quickly. After all, you've done all those tasks a couple of years ago, so how you can find them enticing? 2) The manager is afraid you're going to leave as soon as a better offer will come across. They do have a budget to fill a Senior role, not a Director. 3) They would have to manage someone who is most likely more experienced than them. This is a challenge which requires a lot of self-esteem and believing in your ability. Anything else we should add to the list? 

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Oh wow, you do not hear that often.... The entire staff of Annapurna Interactive, the video-game publishing division of Annapurna studio, resigned this month following a dispute with its owner. Annapurna Interactive President Nathan Gary and his team had been negotiating with Megan Ellison to spin off the video-game division as an independent entity. When Ellison pulled out of the negotiations, Gary and other executives resigned and were followed by around two dozen other staffers. “All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned,’’ Gary and the group said in a joint statement. “This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly.” (source: https://lnkd.in/ehvi33Wg) To those who have resigned, if you are looking for new opportunities, please check them out here: 🥇First, reach out to us at People Can Fly Studio, we have many roles open right now in Canada, the UK, Ireland and Europe, please check them out here: https://lnkd.in/eWpV5PbA 🥈Next, Discipline Games Jobs Resources: Over the past months I have created 9 (at time of writing) Games Jobs Resources to find jobs in a wide range of disciplines, and I would urge you to check them out, if anything just to see what would be available to you: https://lnkd.in/ePywd2kq You can find over 6,000 jobs there. 🥉 Third, the Ultimate list of Video Games Career Resources: This should be your one-stop shop for all information. My dear friend Amir Satvat maintains these documents, he is a legend for doing this - please check them out: https://amirsatvat.com/ I urge you to check out the areas in particular about CV support and mentoring, as these will help you no matter what industry you are hailing from or are looking into going next. 🎖 Finally, do not give up. Ever. No matter how dark things may look right now, I KNOW you will get through this, you have got this! 👊 Remember you are not alone. If you need help, advice, or even an ear to listen, we're here for you. Always! ➡ A request to my community, please can I ask you to repost this post to your colleagues and friends, so that we can get as many into jobs as possible! And please comment if you or your studio are currently hiring - let's help each other! Much love ❤️ #annapurnainteractive #resignations

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I understand the challenges many face when trying to break into the games industry and find the right role. Before contacting a team member or recruiter, I recommend checking the job listings on the company's careers site to identify suitable positions. This approach not only demonstrates professionalism but also expedites the process. Simply reaching out to inquire about available roles may not be the most effective initial contact, as it can lead to a less fruitful conversation. For those interested, here is a link to all the current open roles at WB Games: https://lnkd.in/enp8Q8YN #GameIndustry #CareerOpportunities #Professionalism

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Tiffany & Co. talking about a return to normal. The key take away is that we should all look for areas that are employed earlier in the pipeline from our particular skillsets. So, for Animation, look for Pre-Production; storyboard artists, character designers, layout and background, etc. opportunities being posted and hired for. If they are getting hired, that means productions are starting up again - that production ball is starting to roll. I'm seeing studios hire recruiters again - that's a good sign, you don't need to hire the people whose key job metric is souring and hiring other people if you are not planning to move ahead with a production. It's still slow, I won't downplay that - but there are cracks in the ice. And please know that while everyone is saying that this is the Worst it has Ever Been, that phrase gets tossed around quite a bit whenever these "market adjustments" happen. It's kinda like when someone says, "This is the best slice of pizza I have ever had!" - really? Is it, or were you just really hungry and in the mood for pizza? I'm not here to in anyway diminish the struggle, it's very real and it's very hard on those affected and those who love and care for them, but there is hope - as everything, including this market downturn, is temporary.

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It’s no secret that the games industry is going through a tough time right now, I think a lot of us can relate to feeling like Moss... Like many others, I’ve found myself at a career crossroads. My role as Talent Acquisition Manager was hit by redundancies, and instead of leaving, I was offered a step back into a Senior Talent role. At first, it felt like a reflection of the work I had done — like maybe I hadn’t done enough or wasn’t good at what I was doing. But I’ve realised something important: success at work isn’t just about climbing the ladder. Sometimes, it’s about deepening what you love and finding fulfilment in the work itself. This new (old) role gives me the chance to rediscover what I’m truly passionate about, like fostering relationships with candidates and studio stakeholders, getting stuck in on early careers recruitment and broadening my skills into new areas including global mobility and benefits. Our career paths aren’t always straight lines, sometimes we're impacted by something completely outside of our control, it's so important to remember it's not a reflection on you and your abilities. Sometimes, stepping back or taking a break completely is the best way to gather strength, recharge, and ultimately, move forward to bigger and better things!

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